


When we were finally alone

by guety



Category: Number24 (Anime)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Fluff, Fluff without Plot, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:15:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23284612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guety/pseuds/guety
Summary: Set during episode 9 (spoilers for it)Yasunari apologizes to Yuu, and then tries to have a conversation without messing up, or doing something he might regret
Relationships: Mashiro Yuu/Tsuru Yasunari
Comments: 25
Kudos: 152





	When we were finally alone

**Author's Note:**

> I miss my rubgy boys so I wrote this while waiting for the last two episodes

“Hey, I’m sorry.”

Yuu, who is sitting on the spare futon next to Yasunari’s bed, playing with his phone, raises up his head and gives him a confused look. 

“About what?” Yuu voices the question as if he truly thought Yasunari had nothing to apologize for, which makes him feel even guiltier. 

“What I said in the onsen,” he explains, “about you being too thin.” He tries to look at Yuu in the eye but finds that he can’t keep up with that honest gaze and ends up looking to the side. How could he say something like that, when he knows how important rugby was for Yuu and how badly he wanted to play? He’s such an idiot sometimes. 

“It’s fine,” Yuu offers him a smile that could melt the artic, “besides, you were right. I don’t have the right body for rugby.” He’s nonchalant, his smile wavering just slightly. Yasunari can’t help but admire how strong Yuu and Natsusa-san are, to be able to still manage to keep smiling like that after being told they can’t do the thing they’re passionate about. 

“Well yeah,” he finds himself agreeing, and quickly tries to backtrack, “but that’s not what I - I didn’t mean it that way, just,” Yasunari takes a deep breath, trying to sort out his thoughts instead of putting his foot in his mouth again. “I think it’s admirable that you tried to play rugby anyway. That’s really cool.”

Yuu’s eyes widen, suddenly full of tears. For a second, Yasunari is afraid he’s said the wrong thing once more, but then Yuu is all smiles again. 

“Do you really mean that?”

“Yeah, you have guts.”

Yuu giggles. “It’s the first time someone says I’m cool, thank you.”

“I just said what I think,” he replies, suddenly feeling shy. He’s glad Yuu is smiling again, but it makes him feel warm in a way he’s not used to. 

“You’re so kind.” Yuu wipes the tears that haven’t started flowing yet with the back of his hand. “As a manager, I should be the one supporting you, but I feel like you’re the one who’s always cheering me up… Maybe I am a terrible manager after a-”

“That’s not true,” Yaunari interrupts him. Not only is Yuu not a bad manager at all, but he’s also always giving Yasunari the confidence boost he needs. If it wasn’t for Yuu’s faith in his skills, Yasunari isn’t sure he’d have been able to trust his own body the way he does now. Yuu had helped him realize his own strengths so he could retain his position as a starting member of the team and even now, whenever he feels hesitant Yuu always manages to remind him of all the things he’s good at. But he doesn’t know how to put all that into words, so he tries a different approach. “I mean, who cares that you’re a manager and I’m a player? We’re friends.”

Okay, that was embarrassing. He can feel his ears heating up, and he knows he’s probably blushing visibly, but a part of him thinks a bit of embarrassment isn’t too bad a price to hear Yuu’s delighted little laugh. 

“Yeah!” 

He looks genuinely happy, and so handsome that Yasunari’s heart skips a beat. Not for the first time since they met, he can’t help but notice just how cute Yuu is, in pretty much every sense of the word. Which is weird, because he normally doesn’t really care for cute things, let alone cute people. But there’s something in Yuu that arises a strange urge in Yasunari, an urge to make him smile more, to touch his hair and see if it feels as soft as it looks, to hug Yuu and…

He sits up before he can say - or do - something stupid. “Let’s go to bed.” He climbs onto his mattress, doing his best to look everywhere but Yuu. What the heck was he thinking just now?

“Yes, we have to wake up early tomorrow.” Yuu sounds almost sad, but maybe it’s just Yasunari’s imagination.

He hears a rustling of fabric as Yuu gets under the covers, and once it feels like Yuu is all settled - he stills feels unable to look in his direction - he turns off the lights.

He lays on his back and stares at the darkness, trying to ignore how incredibly hyperaware he is of the fact that Yuu is lying on the futon next to him. 

After a few minutes, Yuu breaks the silence.

“Yasunari-kun,”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry too.”

“Why?” He turns in Yuu’s direction, surprised. Yuu almost never does anything he has to apologize for and he definitely hasn’t done anything he should feel guilty about lately, as far as Yasunari is concerned. 

“Because of my looks, your family thought I was your girlfriend. It must have been embarrassing for you.”

“Well, yeah.” Saying it has been embarrassing was an understatement. Yasunari’s family was vexatious on a regular basis, but it was particularly humiliating when they acted like that in front of other people, especially in front of someone whose opinion Yasunari actually sort of cared about. “That’s not your fault, though. They’re just annoying, don’t worry about it.” 

“Oh, don’t say that! They were nice.”

“If you say so.”

“They were!” The sound of Yuu’s laugh echoes in the room. “And it was flattering that they, um, that they thought I was good enough to date you.”

Wait, so Yuu doesn’t mind that Yasunari’s parents pretty much already organized their wedding? He’s even happy about it? What the heck does that mean? Maybe Yuu doesn’t hate the idea of dating him? Because Yasunari doesn’t really hate it either, if he has to be completely honest about it.

“But you probably didn’t like it,” Yuu adds a second later.

“Of course I didn’t,” he replies without thinking, and only realizes he’s fucked up again a fraction of a second later. 

“Right, of course,” Yuu’s voice wavers, as if he was about to cry. Yasunari wishes he could just punch himself. 

“No, I don’t,” he scrambles to say, “I don’t mean that. I didn’t like that they thought you were my girlfriend because you’re not a girl. It was rude of them.”

“Oh.” Yuu stays silent for a second, then he laughs again. “You really are kind, Yasunari-kun.”

“I’m not.” 

“You are. Kind, and nice and thoughtful.”

“Whatever,” he grumbles to make Yuu stop talking before Yasunari explodes from sheer embarrassment. 

“Then,” Yuu continues after a pause, “if your parents had thought I was your boyfriend, would that have been okay?”

Yasunari’s heart seemingly stops beating for a whole second.

“I guess.” He deserves an award for managing to sound so nonchalant considering the circumstances.

“I’m glad,” Yuu replies. He sounds genuinely happy, filling Yaunari with mixed feelings of relief and bashfulness. 

He feels like he should continue the conversation, but he doesn’t know how to phrase everything he’s feeling without messing up again. He doesn’t want to rush. Whatever these emotions are, he knows they’re real and important, and he wants to take his time figuring them out. He doesn’t want to take the wrong step and hurt Yuu. “Yuu,” he tries, “tomorrow,um,”

“Yes?”

“I’ll walk you home, “he finds himself saying, “after we get back to Kyoto, I mean.”

“Thank you,” Yuu replies quietly, “I really appreciate it.” There’s a pause and then Yuu adds, “We really should get to sleep.”

“Yeah. Goodnight, Yuu.”

“Sleep well.”

  
  



End file.
